What Educators Are Saying About Waldorf Education

"One of the strengths of the Waldorf curriculum is its balance and depth; the emphasis on the arts...the rich use of the spoken word through poetry and storytelling.   Above all, the way the lessons integrate traditional subject matter is, to my knowledge, unparalleled."
-Ernest Boyer, President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

"At a time of searching and reappraisal in American education, the Waldorf Movement with its unique understanding of the education of the child and its years of teaching practice and institutional experience, deserves the informed consideration of those genuinely concerned with education and the development of human wholeness."
-Douglas Sloan, Ph.D., Professor, Columbia University

"No other educational system in the world gives such a central role to the arts as the Waldorf School Movement.   Even mathematics is presented in an artistic fashion and related via dance, movement or drawing to the child as a whole."
-Konrad Oberhuber, Professor of Fine Arts, Harvard

"The time is ripe for the public schools to explore ways in which ideas in Waldorf education might be employed in their own settings."
-Elliot Eisner, Professor of Education and Art, Stanford University

What Notable Parents Are Saying About Waldorf Education

"My daughters, educated at the New York City Steiner School, have benefited not only intellectually, but socially and in terms of cultural and athletic interests as well, from the breadth and depth of the curriculum the teachers presented.
-Iona Ginsburg, MD, Asst. Professor of Clinical Psychiatry Columbia University

"My daughter's experience at the Sacramento Waldorf School was both exciting and mind-opening.   I hope that more people can make Waldorf education available to their children."
-Russell Schweickart, NASA Astronaut

"Ideal for the child and society in the best of times, Rudolf Steiner's brilliant process of education is critically needed and profoundly relevant now at this time of childhood crisis and educational breakdown."
-Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of Magical Child and Evolution's End

What Waldorf Graduates Are Saying About Their Education

"I think the end result of Waldorf Education is to raise our consciousness.   There is a heightened consciousness of what our senses bring us from the world around us, about our feelings, about the way we relate to other people.   It taught me how to think for myself, to be responsible for my decisions.   Second, it made me a good listener, sensitive to the needs of others.   And third, it helped establish meaningful beliefs...in history, science, philosophy we really probed the importance of values and beliefs."
-Kenneth Chenault, President and CEO, American Express Company

" The first time I understood the benefit of a Waldorf education was my first week in college.   Students around me were flipping out because they were afraid of writing papers.   At High Mowing (Waldorf Boarding High School) we had at least ten pages to write every night.   We analyzed Faust, Dante's Inferno.   That's what's so wonderful about Waldorf Education.   You're exposed to many different ideas.   But you're never given one view of a topic."
-Julianna Margulies, actress (ER)

Other Quotes

Dr. Arthur Zajonc, Assoc. Professor of Physics, Amherst College
"By the time they reach us at the college and university level, Waldorf students are grounded broadly and deeply and have a remarkable enthusiasm for learning. Such students possess the eye of a discoverer, which, when joined to a task, can change the planet."

Saul Bellow, author and Nobel Laureate
"If I had a child of school age, I would send him to one of the Waldorf schools."

Joseph Chilton Pearce, author and lecturer
"If there is any one thing that the Waldorf system does, it nurtures, protects and develops beautifully the intelligence of the true child."

Joseph Wiezenbaum Professor, Mass. Institute of Technology, author
"Being personally acquainted with a number of Waldorf students, I can say that they come closer to realizing their own potential than practically anyone I know."

Parent Testimonials

Karen Ann White
Palm Harbor, FL

I have been a public elementary school teacher for ten years. And I have a 7-year-old son. Most public schools are obsessed with performance on state tests and have thrown good teaching out the window.
My son became a victim in this political battle. His day consisted of trying to sit still and be quiet. He never complained, but in my heart I knew his joy was slowly dying, and he was angry and unhappy.
Luckily, we found School of The Suncoast. The curriculum is child centered, brimming with music, movement, and art. The teachers are caring and nurturing. Each child is treated as an individual.
After only two months my son is back to his happy, curious, and musical self. What a gift!

Suzanne & David Aughenbaugh

Clearwater, FL
We moved here from Oregon and when we found this school we knew it was the right place for our family. We've found the support we need to do the best job possible in raising our children - holistically.
This is reaffirmed everyday in their wonder and reverence to the world.

Jane Soltys
Palm Harbor FL
I read the book "Conversations with God" which discussed education at length in one section. It suggested that an education in critical thinking and problem solving built around the three core concepts awareness, honesty & responsibility would be more focused on wisdom and not on knowledge.
Waldorf education was cited as an example. I looked for these characteristics in the public school curriculum and three private schools including a Montessori school. In my opinion a private school tuition is only worth my money if it will provide my children with the above characteristics found in Waldorf schools.

Carrie Grebenev
Tampa, FL
Children are too precious and we have so little time before we send them out on their own. They are little buds that will some day blossom into beautiful flowers. They don't need Miracle Growth that would turn them into something they weren't meant to be.
A Waldorf school along with you provides the nourishment and nurturing they need to become who they truly are. Just come, take a look and you will know. That's what I did.

Elizabeth Wolf
St. Petersburg, FL
My child had a big problem sitting and following directions in public and private schooling. She thought she was a bad child. I remember when she came home on her third day in the Suncoast Waldorf School and said: "Guess what, I wasn't bad today!"
Since then she has learned that it wasn't her that was bad, she is growing a strong self worth and wants to go to school everyday. This school has never had a problem with her and this way of teaching helps her to become a self-conscious person who will know what direction she will want to go by the time she graduates.

Brenda & Jason Kuehn
Clearwater, FL
We were told about the school by our daughter's Sunday school superintendent who is a teacher in a Montessori school. Our daughter's cousin also attends a Waldorf school in New Jersey.
On our first visit for a parent orientation we saw Isabelle react so joyfully that we decided to enroll her. Now in her second year she is still happy and we are glad that her Sunday school teacher had the insight to see that our child had her perfect school in her own hometown.

Julia Wilkins
Clearwater, FL
I was raised in Germany and lived around the corner of a Waldorf School. I always enjoyed the art exhibits and music performances.
Here my older daughter went to public Kindergarten and learned how to read and write and had homework every two days. She seemed very stressed and was constantly told she had messy handwriting. It seemed very hard for her to get the overworked teachers attention and an occasional praise.
Every afternoon after school her behavior was disturbing and aggressive. It seemed like she gave up trying. Facing first Grade in public school without any recess, we were desperate.
As soon as we were able to afford Waldorf education, she switched schools and switched lives. Now she skips off to school and can't wait until the weekend is over. The teacher greets her personally every day. She improved her writing skills through kneading beeswax and drawing pictures with block crayons.
Her personality has improved tremendously all through love and patience. Learning is so easy going, it is like the kids don't even notice it.
I enrolled my younger daughter in Kindergarten!